Thirteen
by Maisuki-chan
Summary: AU "I swear I will catch you one day, Thirteen!" Naminé exclaimed. His eyes glinted mischievously from underneath his mask. "I look forward to the challenge," he replied. "But until then," he blew a kiss to her, "I'll see you around, Miss Detective."


**Thirteen**

Naminé seethed in anger. Her hands were clenched tightly into fists. Her uniform was still intact except for a ripped spot on her shoulder that was the beginning to form a nasty bruise. She lost her hat somewhere along the way.

Before her stood a figure dressed in a long black cape that billowed in the night wind that flowed in from the open window behind him. His blonde hair swayed to and fro. He had one gloved hand holding onto the top of the window frame while the other held onto a small artifact, a stained glass star sculpture. A plain white mask covered half of his face. His blue eyes studied the girl before him.

"You'll never get away with this! I swear I will catch you one day, Thirteen!" she exclaimed. She winced and clutched her shoulder. She tried to reach for her gun in the holder around her waist, but she forgot that he knocked it out of her hands before.

Even though it was dark, Naminé could see his eyes glint mischievously. The corners of his mouth curved upwards into a smirk. If she had her gun, she would shoot that smirk right off his face.

"Hm. Is that so? I look forward to the next challenge," he replied coolly. "But until then," his hand let go of the frame. He blew a kiss to her, "I'll see you around, Miss Detective."

He leaned back, falling out of the window. Naminé ran towards it and looked out to see that he was looking up at her as he fell. The lights of the police cars flashed from a good ten stories below, and Naminé could hear some screams and yells from the civilians that gathered on the street.

Then the masked man grinned up at her before he turned around in midair. With a swish of his dark cape, he vanished into a puff of smoke before narrowly missing the ground. He had made his escape.

Naminé banged a fist on the windowsill, knowing that she had failed her mission.

...

Naminé sighed frustratingly as she rested her elbow on her desk and ran her hand through her already ruffled hair. She winced as she felt the soreness of her muscles from the failed mission the other night and stared blankly at the open files that littered her desk. No matter how many times she read it, it was always the same. She went through every word and every sentence very carefully, picking at the lines and trying to figure out her next plan of action. This was how it went every time she failed to capture the elusive Thirteen.

Ever since she graduated from the academy, Naminé and a few graduates as well as a few members of the police force around Twilight Town had been specially picked to find and capture members of a group of thieves called "The Organization." They would steal various things like art works, small trinkets, and seemingly random items, but the underlying connection between each item was that they were each made and hand crafted by the famous artist Kingdom Hearts.

According to the records, Kingdom Hearts was a modest man who lived a few hundred years ago and took pride in his work. But since he was a modest man, he kept his identity and his actual occupation a secret. It was said that after he revealed his final artwork "Door to Darkness" to the public, he had disappeared into thin air as if he had never existed. Many of his works are now being displayed and are cherished by many museums, but there are some that have slipped through public eye, leading to the rumor that Kingdom Hearts had made artworks that had never been revealed. There was even a rumor that "Door to Darkness" wasn't his final work.

But now that The Organization had appeared, there was a scramble to find and protect Kingdom Hearts' works. However, it was very difficult to pinpoint the next target since many of the artist's works are missing, and that Kingdom Hearts never made a full list. In addition, the only way of identifying his works was to find the initials KH engraved on them, and because of that, there were many counterfeits and fakes. The Organization was a mysterious group, and somehow, they could tell whether an artwork was a genuine Kingdom Hearts work or a fake.

Luckily, Naminé could also tell which was real and which one was fake. It was a feeling that Naminé had in her chest, an intuition. It's helped her many times, and it also helped her narrow down the locations where the Organization members were to appear.

But that doesn't mean that her stakeouts and traps have been successful. Almost always, the Organization got away, much to her frustration. They have already taken many of the artist's well-known works from museums that were heavily guarded, and Naminé did not know how many were left. Her chances of catching them were narrowing.

But many of the Organization members have either been caught or caught dead. Naminé knew that Two, Three, Four, Eight, Eleven, and Twelve were most definitely dead. They were either shot or committed suicide during pursuit, but even when the police were able to retrieve a body, no one was able to identify them. Not to mention, their bodies would disappear mysteriously when no one was watching. Just as Kingdom Hearts hid his identity, the Organization members made sure that theirs stayed hidden.

As for the remaining members, it seemed as if they also disappeared into thin air. They haven't been seen for years, and it was thought that they, too, were dead. However, Naminé had just caught Nine, who after years of absence had carelessly shown himself in front of a camera. He is currently under heavy surveillance at a nearby prison and refused to answer any of the interrogations. No matter what they did, he wouldn't say a thing.

Now the only known active member of the Organization was the elusive Thirteen. Naminé had a personal grudge against him. He stole something precious from her, a locket her mother used to wear. Before she died, she was about to pass it on to Naminé when he appeared and swiped it before her mother could put it around her neck.

She took a glance at the picture frame on her desk and picked it up. It was a picture of her mother and a nine year old Naminé, both of them blowing bubbles. It was taken at a nearby park on a summer day. It was one of the more memorable moments where they bonded, and she missed her mother dearly. She clenched her teeth as she remembered when Thirteen took the locket. It was the same as the other night. He jumped through the hospital window and disappeared with a swish of his cape.

From that moment on, Naminé made capturing Thirteen a personal priority.

But he was so damn smart. No matter what she tried, he would always manage to be one step ahead of her and would always tease her like he did the other night. Capturing Nine was a cakewalk compared to Thirteen. Then again, Nine was always very clumsy with his work. Thirteen was at least more thorough, and Naminé was forced to admit that the mysterious thief had style.

But there was something with his style that stood out from all the other members of The Organization. While they would steal Kingdom Hearts' more well-known works, he would manage to find the ones that had remained hidden from the public. It was a good strategy on his part, but it made Naminé's work all the more complicated and frustrating.

Sure, she followed him every step of the way and had been very very close to capturing him the last time, but sometimes it felt as if he danced away from her grasp, as if she were trying to take hold of the wind itself. Her eyes narrowed as she remembered that smug look on his face before he jumped out of the window. She clenched her fists.

_Next time for sure_, she thought. _The next time, he won't be so lucky_.

She was on the verge of a breakthrough, she just knew it.

But if she could find a genuine Kingdom Hearts work before him, she could finally be one step ahead and formulate a more accurate plan than the last one. Sure, it was one chance out of a million – no, rather it was one chance out of a trillion – to find one before him. If only she had some sort of clue…

All of a sudden, two manila folders plopped on the desk, breaking her out of her thoughts. She glared up at her partner Hayner, annoyed that he broke her train of thought.

"What was that for?" she asked grumpily.

"Thought you might want an update on the case," Hayner said, crossing his arms. "Got some good news and some bad news."

Naminé quickly opened the file and brought out a stack of papers. Her eyes scanned through them.

"You're not going to like this, but it looks like Nine just died. Cause of death was unknown, but the guards are suspecting that he might've hidden some kind of poison in his body. I doubt it. I'm pretty sure that we searched him head to toe for it," her partner explained as he sighed.

"And the body?" she asked as she looked through the photos.

"Gone. Disappeared after everyone had their backs turned."

Naminé cursed under her breath and then ran a hand through her already messy hair. It was like all the other members. Died and disappeared. She specifically told the guards to keep an eye on him though…

She heard a sound and looked up to see Hayner put a mug of coffee on her desk. She gave him a grateful but tired smile before looking back at the new files.

"And the good news?" she said as she reached for the mug.

"We got a lead on the next target. It's pretty urgent."

She closed one of the folders and went to the next one. She would deal with Nine's disappeared body later. When she opened the file, she read through the first page. As she read the first line, she almost spat out her coffee and had to put the mug down. She wiped her mouth with her sleeve, her eyes widening as she reread the first line over and over. She couldn't believe her eyes.

"From the Hikari Corporation?" she said, shocked. Hayner only nodded, giving Naminé some time to read over the files.

Apparently the Hikari Corporation received a mysterious letter addressed to the president. Naminé shifted through the papers until she found a scanned copy.

_To the President of the Hikari Corporation,_

_We know that you are holding a valuable original artwork handcrafted by Kingdom Hearts. We will promptly be at its location at precisely 7:00 pm on Wednesday (two days from now) to pick it up._

_Thank you, and we hope you are having a pleasant evening._

_The Organization_

The letter was written in a neat script, but its contents were what confused Naminé. She had gotten copies of other letters stating the same thing, but there was something…odd about the timing of this one. There were some members who went out of their way to send a warning letter, but many of those members are either dead or haven't been seen for years. The only person she could think of who would do such a thing was Ten. According to his file, he likes to play games. Perhaps this was his way of showing everyone that he was making a comeback.

Nonetheless, Naminé felt a surge of excitement flow through her veins. If this person was a returning member, she would catch him for sure. Two days was plenty enough for her to prepare, and so she had better get started as soon as possible.

She suddenly stood, startling her partner who she forgot was silently standing close by.

"I knew that would cheer you right up," Hayner grinned.

Naminé shot him a determined smile. "I take it you got everything ready?"

"As ready as can be," he said, giving her a thumbs up. "The president wanted to meet with us as soon as possible, so we have a meeting at the Hikari Corporation in an hour."

...

The meeting didn't take as long as Naminé had thought. The president was surprisingly cooperative, even offering his assistance if they need it. Naminé had never met him before, but she could tell that he was exactly how the news portrayed him: Sora Hikari, the young, promising, and optimistic president of the Hikari Corporation. He was also quite friendly, giving off an air that one would not have known he was a president.

Of course, she couldn't say the same for the man who also attended the meeting. He was a bald older man with a silver goatee and a cold, calculating look in his eyes. Apparently, he was the president's advisor and also served as an advisor to the previous president, Sora Hikari's father. But there was something about Mr. Xehanort that Naminé couldn't shake. Then again, it could be because she found his pointed ears and piercing yellow eyes very strange even if they were natural.

Getting back on track, Naminé and her fellow officers had full access to the Hikari family vault, which was where the supposed Kingdom Hearts artwork was being held. They decided not to move the artwork since it seemed like a hassle and that there was no place safer than the family vault. So the team was to meet with the president to prepare and discuss the plans for Wednesday night as well as to scope out the area. Sora Hikari met the team there and led them to one of the rooms in the vault. They were surprised to find ten flat objects that were the same in height and were each covered by a white tarp. They stood against the wall, five on each side.

"So which one is a Kingdom Hearts work?" Hayner asked, tilting his head.

"Nine of them are dummies with blank slates, but the tenth is a fake copy just to throw off the thief. You know, just in case he's not that smart," Sora explained.

"Where's the real one?" Naminé asked.

Sora crossed to the other side of the room and put his hand on the blank wall. The team was startled as a thin bar of light scanned his hand. The president then took a step back as he put his hands in his pockets. The wall parted to reveal a hidden room that contained another six foot standing flat object that was covered by a white tarp. Even though it was covered, it had such a similar presence to all the other genuine artworks that there was no way that it wasn't a Kingdom Hearts work. If any member had a doubt about it, it vanished in a second.

Sora looked back at them and grinned at their shocked expressions.

Hayner let out a whistle. "Man, you've got some security system here, Mr. President."

"Anything to protect this," he gestured to the stand alone object.

Over the next two days, they made the necessary preparations to protect the Hikari vault. They set up traps according to Naminé's plan – with some adjustments suggested and provided by Sora. They used cage traps, motion sensors, and a sticky substance that Hayner invented himself. It was made to stick to the target and to slow their movement down, eventually it would halt them in their tracks. They also made faulty traps that would lead to the actual trap. The whole team knew that the Organization members were swift and elusive, but sometimes they would be caught off guard by traps.

There was one particular trap Naminé was proud of. It was a motion triggered trap that would activate the cage, which would noisily fall from the ceiling. That part was supposed to be a feint to hide the real trap, and Naminé knew that no Organization member would fall for a falling cage. When the member dodges the trap, darts dipped in a powerful sedative would also be dropped from the ceiling. As he proceeds down the hallway, Hayner's sticky substance would coat the floor, the walls, and the ceiling for the next twenty feet, which would no doubt stop any member in his tracks. The darts would also continue to drop until the end of the twenty feet of the sticky substance. One of them was bound to hit a member of the Organization as he was preoccupied by the sticky substance.

It was an unusual trap, but the Organization was unusual in itself.

As the preparations of the traps progressed, the team also discussed where they were going to be stationed so that they could monitor movement and establish communication. Many of the team members were stationed near the entrance while others were stationed near the traps. If any of their traps failed, they would know. They also decided that if that happens, they would either remain where they are or try to coax the Organization member into walking into another trap. Meanwhile, Hayner would be in the control room to relay information, and Naminé would be inside the vault, guarding the fakes. She knew how to deal with the members and had more experience in capturing – or attempts to capture – them. Therefore, it was decided that she would be at the most important spot.

This plan was foolproof. It was sure to capture whoever walked through those doors. They were more prepared than anything even though they had little time to sleep over the past two days.

And then came the day to put the plan into action.

Most of the team was excited, jabbering on about the traps and betting on which would catch the Organization member. A few of them were nervous, wondering if they would get away like last time. Then there were people like Naminé and Hayner who sat quietly, waiting. They weren't at the dining hall with the other members, but they sat right at the entrance of the vault with a plate of food next to them. Both of them were going over various scenarios and what plan of action they would use in case something happens.

Naminé was thinking about hand-to-hand combat when Hayner stood up and wiped the dust from his pants. He grinned as he took Naminé's plate along with his. They both nodded to each other, and then Hayner started to walk down the hall.

"Good luck," he said as he rounded the corner. Naminé nodded.

She was about to return to her thoughts when she saw someone take a seat next to her. She turned her head to find Sora Hikari, sitting with his knees bent and his elbows resting on them. The sleeves of his button-down shirt were rolled to his elbows, and he rested his head against the wall. He was just as tired as they were and went as far as to help them with whatever he could do – even though they insisted that he didn't have to go that far. He helped them so much over the past two days that he and the team became quite close. He also gained Naminé's respect. Not all presidents of prestigious companies would go out of their way to help. Then again, Sora was not at all like normal presidents.

"So this is it, huh? Today's the day," he said tiredly.

"Are you ready for it?" Naminé asked.

"As ready as I can be," he grinned.

"Good," Naminé said as she went through her pockets, checking over all the items. She handed him a candy bar, which he took appreciatively. "You'll need your strength for it, too."

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Sora spoke again.

"Are you ready?" he asked, unwrapping the chocolate.

"Just nervous," she smiled sheepily. "But my hands are itching to get started. I want to catch whoever the Organization sends."

Sora smiled and faced forward. He broke a big piece off and handed it to Naminé.

"I've heard from the rest of the team that you're very focused on the Organization case."

Naminé chuckled as she nibbled on the chocolate. "Oh, you heard that? They make me sound like I'm obsessing over it. But yes, I suppose that's true. You see, I had something stolen by one of them. It was very precious to me, but it wasn't until they took it that I realized that I owned a Kingdom Hearts' work. I've been working to catch them and get it back."

"Which one was it?" the young president asked curiously.

"I'm not sure what it was called. All I know was that it was one of his works that was never shown to anyone. But you know what? I had a feeling. It was…" she put a hand over her heart.

"It was as if everything stood still, and all you could hear was your heartbeat," Sora said quietly.

"That's right," Naminé said, surprised.

"I know that feeling because I feel the same when I look at mine," he grinned.

Naminé grinned back. "So your 'Door to the Light'…do you think it's really a pair work with 'Door to the Darkness'?"

"I do, actually," Sora replied. "Even though it wasn't finished, it's similar to 'Door to the Darkness.' It's also been in my family for generations, so the dates also match…I don't even know how we got the artwork in the first place. In fact, I don't even know how the Organization knew we had it."

Naminé shrugged as she shoved the rest of the chocolate into her mouth. "They just do. Not even I could figure out how they know. They even knew about my locket before I did, and that's been passed down in my family," she pointed out.

"I guess that's true..." Sora trailed off. When he was done eating his chocolate, he crumbled up the wrapper and stood. He stretched his arms.

"It's about time that I join Hayner in the control room. The show's about to start," he said.

Naminé nodded as she also stood. She held her hand in front of her, which Sora shook.

"Best of luck to you," he said.

"Good luck to you, too," Naminé replied. "Keep me updated on things, all right?"

Sora nodded and turned to walk away, his footsteps echoed through the hall.

Naminé let out a long breath as she gathered her spirits. She clenched her fists in front of her and felt determination flow through her veins.

It was show time.

**To Be Continued…**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Hey, guys. This is the one shot I've been talking about. Well...I say it's a oneshot, but it's actually **a two part oneshot**. It was hard to cram everything in one, and I felt as if it would be too long and too much to get everything in. So for the sake of my head not exploding (and yours), I've decided to divide it in half. :) There's not much Naminé/Roxas interaction in the first half, but believe me, there will be more in the second half. ;D Stick around. I'll make sure to update as soon as I can.

By the way, when I came up with the plot of this fanfic, I realized that it was similar to "DNAngel." And so, I believe that I was partially inspired by it. There were also other things about this fanfic that were inspired by other works. I used the "Hikari" as Sora's last name and the name of his company and Xehanort's role of advisor based off of Kiome-Yasha's fanfic "The Diary of Naminé." Thanks for letting me use it, Kiome-Yasha!

Anyways, please let me know what you think! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!


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